I spent the first half of my life trying to be an athlete so I could become the second woman after Mary Lou Retton to appear on the front of a Wheaties box. I failed at that, and softball, basketball, volleyball, track, ice skating and cheerleading in the process. Looking back, the only thing amazing about my persistent pursuit of sporting glory was my lack of self-awareness. I only ever made a team after my second time trying out, when I showed up the next year with my much more athletic younger sister. (True story: she played as my proxy on Forbes' softball team one season.) After my closest attempt at sporting success came in a spelling bee (thank you ESPN for televising and giving that sport cred), I finally decided to take the advice of all those coaches who told me I had the brains and benchwarmer's big mouth better suited for sideline competition. Now after studying business at Drexel University and journalism at NYU, I compete for bylines, primarily writing about the business of sports. As for my sporting endeavor, I decided to focus on the one where I only compete with myself: running. I can be seen crossing the finish line of my front door celebrating my first place victory a few mornings a week...then eating a bowl of Wheaties, because "that's what big girls eat."

3/15/2013 @ 12:00AM1,077 views

Philadelphia Catholic Church Lifts Ban On Females Playing Football

Caroline Pla, 11, JV member of Romans Football in Doylestown, PA, with her teammate's sibling, Gracie Bethke, a 4th grader who said she wanted to play football too. Photo courtesy of Seal Pla.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced this afternoon that it overturned a ban on females playing Catholic Youth Organization full contact sports. Specifically, effective this upcoming 2013 Fall season, the Archdiocese will allow for co-ed participation in CYO football.

It means Caroline Pla, the 11-year old previously written about here who spent the last two years on the Bucks County, PA, Romans junior varsity CYO football team and who became the poster child for this discrimination controversy when she was banned from playing further based solely on her gender, can sign up for the varsity squad and try for another All-Star season. It means the 4th grader, Gracie, a teammate’s sibling who told Caroline she was going to play just like her and who Caroline first asked about when her mom informed her she would no longer be allowed to play, can sign up too.

“I’m so happy that now any girl who wants to can play,” said a very excited Pla who spent the evening celebrating at her CYO girls basketball team banquet. “No one should doubt you just because you are a girl. If you sign up, you know what you are getting into and what should count is how you play.”

If the archbishop upholds the panel’s recommendation to ban females from CYO football, this fight will not be over. Many supporters are rallying around Caroline in her quest to play co-ed CYO football. In four months she has gained support nationally and around the world. The determination and strength of this 11-year-old will not be diminished.

The panel Pla was referring to was the one that met exactly one month ago today born out of necessity after the Pla family, unsuccessful in their attempt to reason with the Archdiocese to reconsider their ban, started a petition on Change.org to garner public support. They collected over 108,000 signatures and brought this issue into the media spotlight. The Archdiocese responded saying a panel would be formed to review the issue and make a recommendation to Archbishop Chaput, head of the Archdiocese, who would make a final ruling. The intention was for it to consist of coaches, parents, pastors and experts in sports medicine and pediatrics and was to evaluate the boys-only policy for fairness and safety. According to two panel members who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity in exclusive interviews first reported here, the latter never happened, partly because the former didn’t either.

The sources described the panel as an open forum led by Jason Budd, the Archdiocesan head of CYO, and included a priest, a representative from an all-boys high school, a representative from the Institute for Sport, Spirituality and Character Development from a Catholic university in suburban Philadelphia, a representative on speakerphone from the University of Notre Dame whom both sources said remained a silent witness, a representative from the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference – a lobbying arm for that state’s bishops in Harrisburg, PA, and various coaches from CYO to high school level. No one who coached Pla at any point since she started playing co-ed football at age 5, or anyone who coached any other female on a football team was present; neither was anyone from Romans, or Monsignor Gentile, the pastor of the Pla’s parish, Our Lady of Guadalupe, who wrote a letter in support of Caroline. No sports medicine, pediatric or legal expert analysis was provided, and no one qualified to talk on any of those matters presented themselves as such according to the sources.

Rather, the panel members substituted their personal opinions and their interpretation of Vatican law and the CYO mission statement for facts. Title IX, the law preventing gender discrimination which the Archdiocese is covered under since it receives federal funding, was dismissed as an issue because one panel member without any legal or Archdiocesan accounting expertise attempted to claim such funding didn’t exist, despite it being discussed in the Archdiocese’s most recent financial statements. Medical evidence showing girls of CYO age grow faster and are more coordinated than boys, and that girls and boys do not differ significantly in physiological parameters was never discussed. Other Roman Catholic dioceses across the country that allow co-ed contact sports, including those right in the backyard of Philadelphia — the Diocese of Wilmington, DE, the Diocese of Pittsburgh, PA, and the Dioceses of Cincinnati and Cleveland, OH — were never mentioned.

Instead the panel discussed at length their concern that having co-ed contact sports invited inappropriate touching. They were told to picture a female quarterback with her hands on the rear end of a male center and left to imagine deviant sexual conduct this would promote. Curiously absent from this scenario was the fact that the players wear full uniforms with pads and protection, play a game under a time clock, out in the open, in front of family and fans.

But at the end of the day, the Plas’ faith was renewed and their doubt brought on by the panel erased. Despite receiving a recommendation to uphold the ban on co-ed contact sports (the panel voted 16-3 in favor of the ban with one person abstaining), Archbishop Chaput made up his own mind and ruled to allow for co-ed play. According to the press release:

To obtain input from the broadest possible spectrum, the Archdiocese also reviewed feedback from various other sources, both critical and supportive of the policy. Lastly, all possible factors were considered including the expectations of coaches, parents, and pastors, common current practice, legal circumstances and the CYO policies of dioceses around the country.

The Archdiocese added that the co-ed contact sport approval is “provisional” and will be reviewed in the coming seasons. But according to Neena Chaudhry, senior counsel and Title IX expert at the National Women’s Law Center, this qualifying statement means nothing based on their current financial operations.

“If the Archdiocese continues to receive federal funds, then it is subject to Title IX,” said Chaudhry. “Reversing their decision to let girls continue to play football could put them in jeopardy of violating Title IX.”

In other words, as reported in Catholic Philly, the Archdiocese would again be in the position they were when they realized they needed to overturn their ban — they would face “a possible discrimination law suit under the federal Title IX statute that aims to open up opportunities for girls to play sports.”

Based on unknown criteria, the Archdiocese also added other alternatives to contact football could be considered in the future. None were mentioned in the release but sources on the panel said one suggestion that was sent to the Archbishop was a non-contact flag football league.

“We are happy for Caroline but mostly for all girls,” said Seal Pla. “It was always our ultimate goal that all girls have that same opportunity Caroline did to experience what she did.”

“Archbishop Chaput took a positive step for the Church and for women in the Church” said the mom. “We are very grateful to him.”

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Regarding Philadelphia Archbishop Chaput’s decision to allow co-ed participation in CYO football, I have a serious moral dilemma. I have been coaching CYO football for 22 of the past 29 years. In all of that time I have never had one kid where I didn’t form fit my hands on his chest to demonstrate proper technique in delivering and/or countering a blow to the chest – Not one! Unless a kid practices and plays exclusively as a placekicker or a quarterback (very rare in CYO) using his open hands to deliver a blow to the chest is one skill that is absolutely required learning. And the ability to counter such a move is also vital. For me, teaching this has become natural. But now I am faced with a quandary. What do I do when I have a 13-year-old girl in front of me and I have to teach her how to counter a blow to the chest? Do I start by putting my hands on her chest just like I have with every boy I have ever coached over the past 29 years? I hope the answer to that is obvious. So what do I do? Tell a 13-year-old boy teammate to put his hands on her chest?

Over the years, being involved in CYO as a board member, an athletic director, a head football coach, and an assistant football coach, I have been confronted several times with the prospect of allowing girls to play contact football with boys. In each instance, I have not had to go any further than a short presentation of the case above. After demonstrating the technique and required forcefulness of a properly executed hand shiver to the chest, I tell them, “I don’t know about you, but I just feel that young boys should not be allowed to do that to young girls.” In every case, as soon as that is said, the discussion ends. I have never gotten a counter argument. Not once did I have to take the next step and ask, “Are you okay with me demonstrating that on your daughter?” or “Are you okay with me allowing every boy on the team to do that to your daughter?”

Even in this “enlightened” world we live in, I still think you would be hard-pressed to find a parent who thinks it is okay for a coach and/or any boy on the team to form fit their hands on their daughter’s chest. But even if such a parent exists, could any decent man (one fit to be a CYO coach) ever feel comfortable teaching a young boy to do that to a young girl? What about the parents of a boy on the team? Do you think they should be okay with their son thinking nothing of this?

It seems that every time this issue comes up, the arguments center on the girl and what she is capable of handling and accomplishing. For now, let’s concede that there are girls who can handle the rigors of playing football and are capable of succeeding. But what is the cost to the boys? Aside from the hand shiver problem, what kind of boy has it in him to think nothing of pummeling a girl? And what kind of man does it take to coach boys to think nothing of forcefully putting a girl on her backside? I know for sure that I do not have what it takes. And I know for sure I would never want my sons to have what it takes.

Please tell me what happens when a girl sustains an injury after a boy runs her over her on his way to a touchdown – a score that proves critical in winning the game. The obvious easy answer is that the girl takes the necessary time and works to get healthy just like any boy would do. Not a big deal! But what about the boy? How is he supposed to feel? Great for saving the game? I have to think that if he has even a sliver of decency, he would feel awful! And how do you think his peers might react toward him? For me, it’s just plain wrong to put a boy in this position. It’s simply a no-win! The vast majority of boys, I sincerely hope, do not have it in them to really haul off and smash a girl (even in a controlled environment). And for those boys who do have it in them, I really don’t think we should be encouraging such a tendency – certainly not in CYO!

I am okay with girls playing contact football. I am not okay with girls playing contact football with boys! Psychologically and emotionally, it is far too harmful to boys! Physically, it is flat out improper!

There are two CYO coaches, Chip Ross and Jim Reichwein, an entire Romans Football team and their families, and the Pla family just a quick ride up I95 from you in your same Archdiocese — all very decent and moral people — that have experience (and a successful record) with boys and girls playing tackle football that could teach you how to coach co-eds. There is also a priest, Monsignor Gentile, the Pla’s parish pastor who supported the co-ed team and supplied a letter saying so to the Archdiocese, who could provide you moral support with your dilemma. The Diocese of Wilmington, which may be closer to you, also may provide you the much-needed guidance someone in your coaching position should have. If you came here looking for me to connect you with them, I will gladly facilitate. Let me know.

If you read through any of the stories I wrote about this situation, you would know: -Romans Football has not been the victim of any of your stated fears the past two seasons since their first female played. -Caroline Pla, an All-Star, has been playing co-ed football since she was 5 years old, has never had any issues (again, like you fear), and has leveled boys on the field without sustaining any injury besides what she called normal bumps and bruises. -George and Seal Pla are upstanding, respectable members of their Church and amazing parents. They fully support their daughter’s — and their older son’s – football endeavor and have never had any concerns over touching like the one you expressed. They have exercised their parental responsibility like every parent of a child athlete should and monitored their daughter’s (and son’s) progress, been involved in coaching her, and have a strong bond with both their children and Romans football family. -It’s not conceding, it’s fact that at the CYO age girls are faster and more coordinated than boys, and that girls and boys girls and boys do not differ significantly height, weight, fat-free mass, girth, bone width, and skinfold thickness. In other words, girls are as tough, or weak, as boys at that age. -It’s a fact that Pop Warner allows co-ed contact football; more than 2,500 girls played with boys in 2010, the latest figure they have. (Pop Warner also operates in your neck of the woods.) -It’s a fact that over 1600 girls play high school co-ed contact football. -It’s a fact that the NFL recently changed their guidelines to allow women to play in the league. -It’s a fact that it’s against the law for any organization that receives federal funding to discriminate against anyone based on gender. Your Archdiocese receives federal funding.

To quote Seal Pla’s op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer, which I highly suggest you read (http://articles.philly.com/2013-03-14/news/37685463_1_doylestown-romans-football-team-girls-and-boys), “Respecting everyone’s right to an opinion does not mean everyone’s opinion is right, particularly in light of clear and tested facts.” A great take on ‘opinions are only as good as the facts that back them up’. You have no facts to back your dilemma up. Your only currency is your unfounded fear.

You are not preaching or teaching anything noble or chivalrous. You are perpetuating ignorance and chauvinism. The Romans Football team and all their supporters, the countless dioceses around the country that already allow co-ed contact football, the HSs where those 1600 females play on co-ed contact teams, the NFL — they are all dealing in fact and reality.

I’m unsure how you, without any experience dealing with girls playing football, except to bully them and their parents into keeping them off the field, have any dilemma other than coming to terms with the fact that you need to learn a lot more about girls, and coaching co-eds. If you can’t handle it, you back off. No kid should be denied playing CYO because of what you stated here. More importantly denying them, even as your own Archdiocese’s paper, Catholic Philly, admitted, exposes you to “…a possible discrimination law suit under the federal Title IX statute that aims to open up opportunities for girls to play sports.” Stop fowling this up for good honest kids and their families and just let the kids play.

I think you misunderstand me. I truly have a moral dilemma. Almost no practice goes by where I don’t demonstrate shooting open hands to the chest. And over the past 29 years, I honestly believe I have not coached a single kid where I have not form-fitted my hands on his chest. It is such a critical skill to both execute and counter and it is constantly reinforced (for every position with the exception of kicker and quarterback).

So I have to ask you. Are you saying it would be okay for me to form-fit my hands on the chest of a 13 or 14-year old girl? Or would it be okay for me to tell a 14-year old boy to form-fit his hands on the chest a 14-year old girl?

My dilemma is, even if the Pope said it was okay, I still couldn’t do it. And I would never want a son or grandson to ever feel comfortable in doing this. That’s a fact!

I have 4 daughters. One is still in college and the other 3 are college graduates and doing very well in their chosen professions. All 4 of my girls were high school athletes and 2 of them were Division-1 College Scholarship Athletes. I was not one to hold them back. That being said, in a million years, I would never have allowed a male coach to put his open hands on their chest. Is this too hard to understand? Or am I just a misguided dinosaur?

I am in favor of honest dialogue, so please respond with answers to my questions.

I’m saying to you: why are you asking me for coaching advice? You seriously came here looking for that? I watch enough football to know your technique is not the only one and that you are explaining it in the most exaggerated perverse term for dramatic effect. (I also know enough about girls and have seen enough of Caroline Pla to know that she would most likely block your team’s kid in a heartbeat because she’s good and her whole team has been properly coached.) But I’m not writing football manuals here. If you were truly interested in honest dialogue, why have you not sought out such advice from the many coaches who have actual experience coaching co-ed contact football (in your CYO Archdiocese, in neighboring CYO dioceses, in Pop Warner, in HS)? I spoke to many of them, some in your own backyard, for my article. They are out there — and my offer to connect you to them still stands. Or why don’t you invite Caroline Pla and her teammates to come to a practice and show you a thing or two? Better yet, why aren’t you asking the Archdiocese — Jason Budd, your CYO director — to make sure you are all properly trained if you don’t know how to do your job?

You are posing this to me, as if your opinionated-fueled, experience-lacking, fact-deficit “moral dilemma” is truly an insurmountable consideration, a challenge that then dictates that every coach, like you, should advise against any girl and her parent who comes to the field that she should not play? There is nothing honest about that. (By the way, who do you think would want to play with you after you challenged them with your so-called morals?) If you can’t do this, you should seriously step aside. It’s not a moral imperative that you coach. It actually may be a legal liability if you continue to do so and turn girls away.

Seems to me the most honest dialogue is what you so nicely summed up in your first comment about girls playing with boys:”Psychologically and emotionally, it is far too harmful to boys!” ‘Misguided dinosaur’ is your term, not mine. But you’re not helping yourself with comments like that, no matter how many daughters you have who played sports. You protect them all you want, any way you want. You have no right to tell other parents – of girls, or of boys that don’t mind them playing football with girls – anything different.

1) Are you saying it would be okay for me to form-fit my hands on the chest of a 13 or 14-year old girl?

2) Or would it be okay for me to tell a 14-year old boy to form-fit his hands on the chest a 14-year old girl?

3) Is it too hard to understand why, in a million years, I would never have allowed a male coach to put his open hands on my daughters’ chest?

You totally avoided answering these questions. This leads me to believe that you understand the quandary. So I guess I made some progress. The problem is you don’t like the conclusion. So instead, you lash out at me with all sorts of innuendo.

Do you really think that by posing these questions, I am asking for coaching advice? No knowledge of football is required to answer them – just a moral compass! I know that you don’t like me using that word “moral”, but in CYO (i.e. the “Catholic Youth Organization”), it is at the core at everything we do.

Having coached co-ed baseball and co-ed basketball (for kids up to 12 years old) for almost as many seasons as I have coached football, I know firsthand what girls are capable of accomplishing at these ages. More than once, a girl won MVP of our basketball league. Each time, I voted for her. And being a girl had nothing to do with it. I voted for her because she was quite simply the best player in the league. Nowhere in my 2 posts did I diminish the athletic ability of girls at these ages. If you want to point to my question as to what happens when a boy runs over a girl on his way to a touchdown, I was just posing that as a comparison. It’s not uncommon in football for one boy to run over and unintentionally injure another boy, and when it happens not much is thought about it. I just got to think that most decent boys would have a completely different feeling when the person they run over and unintentionally injure is a girl. Is that hard for you to imagine?

You tell me that you watch enough football to know that the technique I refer to (i.e. hands to the chest) is not the only one at that I am “explaining it in the most exaggerated perverse term for dramatic effect”. Well, I got to tell you, it is what it is! Please ask any football coach to describe it to you. You won’t get a different description. And yes, there are other techniques, but when it comes to blocking, punching hands to the chest is by far the most common technique – overwhelmingly so! There are offenses (a small minority) today that still emphasize using the shoulder for run blocking, but for pass blocking, offensive lineman almost always have to employ a hands-to-the-chest technique. In a typical game today, you could add up all of the tackles, pass completions and first downs together, multiply that sum by 2 or 3, and still come up with a number that is smaller than the number of attempted “hands-to-the-chest” techniques that are employed. On most plays, there are multiple players attempting to execute this multiple times.

You asked why I have not sought the advice from those who have experience in coaching co-ed girls and why am I not asking the Archdiocese for guidance. I fully intend on doing that. As a matter of fact, I am meeting with a key member of the Archdiocese tonight. And I will definitely contact the Romans coaches. I promise you!

If you respond to this post, please answer my 3 questions above. Otherwise, there really isn’t much sense in me continuing this dialogue.

I have zero issue with this. Zero. Nor does the Romans Football organization. Nor does your Archdiocese, the Diocese of Wilmington, Diocese of Pitt, Dioceses of Cleveland and Cincinnati, and many others across the country. Nor does Pop Warner. Nor do the HSs where 1600 girls play. Nor does the NFL. From what I have seen and what I was told by a coach, players practice with pads on, not bare chested or topless. I would hope that is the way it is where you coach too… So again you asking me how you should coach is ridiculous and I am avoiding absolutely nothing by giving you facts that answer all your questions and telling you to go to the experts, the ones with experience and sensibility in dealing with co-eds, for specifics on how to overcome your coaching inadequacy. Good for you for taking my advice on that. It leaves me to believe you are slowly coming around to understanding this is your personal quandary and not an insurmountable problem you want to make it out to be.

As an aside, your concern for how boys will feel is only worth responding with this, a quote by Seal Pla, a decent mother of both a decent boy and decent girl football player: “Teaching boys they are superior will psychologically scar them…when a girl beats them on the field. Teach equality!” Again, it’s chauvinistic, not chivalrous, to do otherwise. It’s indecent.

Looking forward to hearing how your meetings go with the Archdiocese and the Romans Football team.